Sweeping smoking ban in B.C.

The B.C. government has introduced new legislation that will ban smoking in all indoor public spaces and take aim at how tobacco products are marketed and sold.

Health Minister George Abbott introduced the bill in the legislature on Tuesday. “This amendment bans smoking in restaurants, pubs and private clubs, offices, malls, conference centres, sports arenas, community halls, government buildings and schools,” he said.

It will also be illegal for smokers to light-up in a public doorway, or near windows and air intakes — to protect indoor air quality.

The bill will ban smoking in schools and on school grounds this September; in other places, it takes effect next year.

The new legislation also allows regulations that would ban outdoor advertising of tobacco products, and limit the display and promotion of cigarettes inside stores. Abbott said that means cigarettes may have to be kept out of sight in B.C. stores at some point in the future.

“That will be determined by regulation, but my expectation is that the racks of cigarettes will actually be behind a plain covered surface. So there won’t be the advertising, there won’t be the cigarette packs sitting out in the open,” said the minister.

Abbott said B.C. is not yet ready to ban smoking altogether. But he says the government is determined to fight smoking and discourage young people from taking up the habit.

Source: CBC News, News1130

Top crash locations in B.C.

On the way to the gym today, I drove by a very bad car accident scene at the intersection of 49th and Knight Street. The fire trucks and ambulance have blocked off the intersection completely. By looking at the position of the cars, it looks like someone was trying to making a left turn on to 49th and got hit by an on-coming traffic vehicle.

Knight Street has always been a very busy street connecting Vancouver to Richmond over the Fraser River. Especially between 49th and Marine Drive area, people always speeds trying to avoid traffic or beat the next traffic light. This article I read over the weekend was no surprise to me. Something should be done to these high crash locations to save lives and decrease accident rates.

Top crash locations in B.C.
Published: 3/19/2008
Source: The Province

HIGH-RISK CRASH TOLL
Crashes in 2006 involving high-risk driving:
Fraser Valley: 5,200
Greater Vancouver: 4,200
North Central B.C.: 2,000
Southern Interior: 4,900
Vancouver Island: 3,700
Total: 20,000

TOP CRASH LOCATIONS IN 2006:

LOWER MAINLAND

1. Trans-Canada Highway and Willingdon Avenue, Burnaby (352 crashes)
2. Knight Street and Southeast Marine Drive, Vancouver (304 crashes)
3. Knight Street Bridge, Richmond (257 crashes)
4. Brunette Avenue and Trans-Canada Highway, Coquitlam (222 crashes)
5. Lions Gate Bridge, West Vancouver (217 crashes)
6. Alex Fraser Bridge, Delta (203 crashes)
7. 152nd Street and Trans-Canada Highway, Surrey (201 crashes)
8. Gaglardi Way and Trans-Canada Highway, Burnaby (196 crashes)
9. 88th Avenue and King George Highway, Surrey (185 crashes)
10. Pattullo Bridge, Surrey (177 crashes)

VANCOUVER ISLAND

1. Hillside Avenue and Shelbourne Street, Victoria (82 crashes)
2 Patricia Bay Highway and Sayward Road, Saanich (63 crashes)
3. McKenzie Avenue and Trans-Canada Highway, Saanich (57 crashes)
4. Aulds Road and Hammond Bay Road and N. Island Highway, Nanaimo (54 crashes)
5. North Island Highway and Northfield Rd., Nanaimo (53 crashes)
6. Blanshard Street and Saanich Road, Saanich (52 crashes)
7. North Island Highway and Rutherford Road, Nanaimo (52 crashes)
8. Douglas Street, Gorge Road East and Hillside Avenue, Victoria (52 crashes)
9. 17th Street and Cliffe Avenue, Courtenay (50 crashes)
10. Trans-Canada Highway and Tillicum Road, Saanich (48 crashes)

Powerful needs keep Vancouver police idling

I read an interesting article from the Vancouver Sun today. I totally agree with this because I think everyone should contribute a little to the community to a cleaner environment. The problem is not going to solve itself and pointing finger or waiting for someone else to do something about it first is not the solution either. We all need to take action now!

Title: Powerful needs keep Vancouver police idling
Published: Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Vancouver has a bylaw prohibiting the idling of engines. I recently passed two of Vancouver’s police cars stopped beside one another. The occupants of the cars were having a break, windows down, chit-chatting away. Their engines were idling, so I pointed out that Vancouver has a no-idling bylaw.

The reply was that they need the alternators turning to generate power for the electrics, especially the emergency flashing lights. That I can understand, but there was no emergency. An officer then said they needed to keep their laptops on in case they were summoned for an emergency. Now, they may be special rugged laptops, but regular laptops can run for an hour or more on their small internal batteries and a police cruiser has a behemoth of a 12-volt lead acid battery under the hood. I suspect such a battery could run a laptop for a month or more.

Let everyone obey our bylaws and help keep our air cleaner.

STEPHEN OTTRIDGE
Vancouver

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

BC Youth Week

Celebrate youth in our community during BC Youth Week, May 1 – 7. Youth Week is an international celebration recognizing the value, diversity and positive contributions youth make in their communities. Be sure to catch one of the hundreds of events including everything from sporting events and art shows to award ceremonies and random acts of kindness. To find out what’s happening in your community today, check out www.bcyouthweek.com for more information.

BC Youth Week events will include things like dances, concerts, a pool tournament, cooking competition, film festival, scavenger hunts and more in Langley, Maple Ridge, Mission, Vancouver, the North Shore and many other communities.

Gas prices in Vancouver

One thing that living in Vancouver stresses the average Vancouverite is transportation. In my opinion, Vancouver is built heavily on the use of vehicles. The use of vehicles has largely been incorporated into our lives because of its convenience. Unlike public transportation cities like Hong Kong or Tokyo, Vancouver was build with roads first and public transportation came second. Nonetheless, public transportation is improving slowly and politicians are pushing for greener environment by reducing vehicle usage and striding for public transportation. However, both public transportation fare prices and gasoline prices have went up. So, in the end, it is a lose-lose situation for many Vancouverites.

Left: Gas prices on May 21st 2004.

Righ: Gas prices on March 13th 2008.

I wish I had a picture from 1994 where gas prices were hovering around 50 cents or so….